E 
766 

.(1)67 






ADDRESS 



OF 



PRESIDENT WILSON 



BEFORE 



THE PRESS CLUB 

IN NEW YORK CITY 



JUNE 30, 1916 




WASHINGTON 
1916 







D. of D. 
AUG ? 1915 



ADDRESS. 



I realize that I have done a \oiy iini)nKlent thinu-: 1 Ii;i\c conic to 
address this thoughtful coinpauy of" men without any prcpa ration 
whatever. If I could have written as witty a speech as Mr. Piilit/.ci-. 
1 would have written it. If I could ha\e written as clear ;iii enuncia- 
tion of the fundamental ideas of American patriotism as llic ni;iyoi-. 
I should have attempted it. If I could have been as appealing: a per 
son and of as feeling- a heart as Mr, Cobb, T would liaxc I'cit -ale. 

If I could have been as generous and interesting and genuine as 
Mr. Colby, I should have felt that I could let myself go without 
any preparation. But, gentlemen, as a matter of fact, I have been 
absorbed by the responsibilities which have been so frequently re- 
ferred to here to-night, and that preoccupation has made it impossi- 
ble for me to forecast even what you would like to hear me talk- 
about. 

There is something very oddly contradictory about the etFect yon 
men have on me. You are sometimes, particularly in your i)hoto- 
graphic enterprises, very brutal to me, and you sometimes invade 
my privacy, even to the extent of formulating my judgments before 
they are formed, and yet I am tempted when I stand face to face 
with you to take otf all guard and merely expose myself to you as 
the fallible human being that I am. 

Mr. Colby said something that was among the few things I had 
forecast to say myself. He said that there are some things which 
it is really useless to debate, because they go as a matter of couiw. 

Of course it is our duty to prepare this Nation to take care of its 
honor and of its institutions. AVhy debate any part of that, excel)! 
the detail, except the plan itself, Avhich is always debatable? 

Of course it is the duty of the Government, Avhich it will ne\er 
overlook, to defend the territory and people of this country. It 
goes without saying that it is the duty of the administration to have 
constantly in mind Avith the utmost sensitiveness every point of 
national honor. 

But, gentlemen, after you have said and accepted these obvious 
things your program of action is still to be formed. AVhen will yoit 
act and how will you act? 

51285—16 (3) 



The easiest thing is to strike. The brutal thing is the impulsive 
thing. No man has to think before he takes aggressive action; but 
before a man really conserves the honor by realizing the ideals of the 
Nation he has to think exactly what he will do and how he will do it. 

Do you think the glory of America would be enhanced by a war of 
C(m(iuest in Mexico? Do you think that any act of violence by a 
powerful nation like this against a weak and destructive neighbor 
would reflect distinction upon the annals of the United States? 

Do you think that it is our duty to carry self-defense to a point 
of dictation into the affairs of another people? The ideals of 
America are written plain upon every page of American history. 

And I want you to know how fully I realize whose servant I am. 
I do not own the Government of the United States, even for the 
time being. I have no right in the use of it to express my own 
passions. 

I have no right to express my own ambitions for the development 
of America if those ambitions are not coincident with the ambitions 
of the Nation itself. 

And I have constantly to remind myself that I am not the servant 
of those wdio wish to enhance the value of their Mexican investments, 
that I am the servant of the rank and file of the people of the United 
States. 

I get a great many letters, my fellow citizens, from important and 
influential men in this country, but I get a great many other letters. 
I get letters from unknown men, from humble women, from people 
whose names have never been heard and never will be recorded, and 
there is but one prayer in all of these letters : " Mr. President, do not 
allow anybody to persuade you that the people of this country want 
war with anybody." 

I got off a train yesterday, and as I was bidding good-by to the 
engineer he said, in an undertone, " Mr. President, keep out of 
Mexico." And if one man has said that to me a thousand have said 
it to me as I have moved about the country. 

If I have opportunity to engage them furthti in conversation, 
they say. " Of course^ we know that you can not govern the circum- 
stances of the case altogether, and it may be necessary ; but for God's 
sake do not do it unless it is necessary." 

I am for the time being the spokesman of such people, gentlemen. 
I have not read history without observing that the greatest forces in 
the world and the only permanent forces are the moral forces. 

We have the evidence of a very competent witness, namely, the 
first Napoleon, who said that as he looked back in the last days of 
his life upon so much as he knew of human history he had to record 
the judgment that force had never accomplished anything that was 
permanent. 



Force will not accomplish anythino: that is pei-niarient, T veiitiir-e 
to say. in the great striiogle Nvhich is going on on the otlier side of 
the sea. The permanent things will be accomplished afterwards, 
when the opinion of mankind is brought to bear upon the issues, and 
the only thing that will hold the world steady is this same silent, 
insistent, all-powerful opinion of mankind. 

Force can sometimes hold things steady until opinion has time to 
form, but no force that was ever exerted, except in response to that 
opinion, was ever a conquering and predominant force. 

I think the sentence in American history that I myself am pi-oudcst 
of is that in the introductory sentences of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, where the writers say that a due i-es[)ect for the opinion of 
mankind demands that they state the reasons for what they arc ahoiit 
to do. 

I venture to say that a decent respect for the opinions of numkind 
demanded that those who started the present European war should 
have stated their reasons; but they did not pay any heed to the 
opinion of mankind, and the reckoning will come when the settlement 
comes. 

So, gentlemen. I am willnig, no matter what my personal fortunes 
may be. to play for the verdict of mankind. Personally, it will be a 
matter of indifference to me what the verdict on the 7th of November 
is, provided I feel any degree of confidence that when a later jury 
sits I shall get their judgment in my favor. Xot my favor person- 
ally — what dilference does that make? — but in my favor as an honest 
and conscientious spokesman of a great national convention. 

There are some gentlemen who are under the delusion that the 
power of a nation comes from the top. It does not. It comes from 
the bottom. 

Power and virtue of the tree does not come from the blossoms and 
fruit down into the roots, but it comes from the roots in the obscure 
passage of the earth where the power is derived, which displays itself 
in the blossoms and the fruit; and I know that among the silent, 
speechless masses of the American people is slowly coming u{) the 
sap of moral purpose and love of justice and re\"erence for humanity 
which constitutes the only virtue and distinction of the American 
people. 

Look for your rulers of the future I Can you pick out the families 
that are to produce them? Can you pick out the localities that are 
going to produce them :' 

You have heard what has been said about Abraham Lincoln. It is 
singular how touching ever}^ reference to Abraham Lincoln is. It 
alw^ays makes you feel that you wish you had been there to lielj) him 
in some fashion to fight the battles that he was fighting, sometimes 
almost alone. 



Could yon liave predicted, if you had seen Abraham Lincoln's 
birth and boyhood, where that great ruling figure of the world was 
going to spring from ? 

I have presided over a university, but I never deceived myself by 
supposing that by university processes you were producing the ruling- 
forces of the world. 

I knew that all a university could do if it knew its business was to 
interpret the moral forces of the world and let the young man, who 
sat imder its influence, know the very truth of truths about where it 
came from, and that no man could produce it unless he felt in his 
blood every corpuscle spring into delightful life with the mention 
of ideals which have lifted men slowly, oh, so slowly, up the arduous 
grades, Avhicli have resisted the progress since the world began. 

So, gentlemen, I have not come here to-night to do anything but 
to remind you that you do not constitute the United States ; that I do 
not constitute the United States; that it is something bigger and 
greater and finer than any of us; that it was born in an ideal, and 
only by pursuing an ideal in the face of every adverse circunii^tance 
will it continue to deserve the beloved name Avhich Ave love and for 
which we are ready to die, the name "America.*' 

o 




ill 

013 900 840 6 # WtM 



''!''' 


■'X'l'i 


)A- 


'.■''v 


;;ii|: 


i'l'is 


i\^]l 


!'!vl 



